About Sarah Bramao-Ramos

Sarah Bramao-Ramos is a Research Assistant Professor at the Society of Fellows in the Humanities at the University of Hong Kong. She can be reached at sarahbr@hku.hk

NBN Episodes hosted by Sarah:

Lu Xun. ,"Wild Grass and Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk" (Harvard UP, 2022)

February 13, 2024

Wild Grass and Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk

Lu Xun

In this captivating translation of the imaginative prose essay collection Wild Grass (1927) and experimental memoir Morning Blossoms Gathered at Dusk …

Alex Burchmore, "New Export China: Translations Across Time and Place in Contemporary Chinese Porcelain Art" (U California Press, 2023)

February 2, 2024

New Export China

Alex Burchmore

Why do so many contemporary Chinese artists use porcelain in their work? How do artists make sense of the legacy that porcelain has in China, and how …

Hwisang Cho, "The Power of the Brush: Epistolary Practices in Chosŏn Korea" (U Washington Press, 2020)

January 20, 2024

The Power of the Brush

Hwisang Cho

Why did the letter-writing culture of Korea diversify in the sixteenth century? How did this “epistolary revolution” change textual norms, modes of kn…

Lawrence Zhang, "Power for a Price: The Purchase of Official Appointments in Qing China" (Harvard UP, 2023)

December 4, 2023

Power for a Price

Lawrence Zhang

The Qing dynasty's office purchase system (juanna) allowed men to legally and openly pay for appointments in the civil service — enabling them to skip…

Henrietta Harrison, "The Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators Between Qing China and the British Empire" (Princeton UP, 2021)

November 28, 2023

The Perils of Interpreting

Henrietta Harrison

The Perils of Interpreting: The Extraordinary Lives of Two Translators Between Qing China and the British Empire (Princeton UP, 2021) is a fascinating…

Kai Jun Chen, "Porcelain for the Emperor: Manufacture and Technocracy in Qing China" (U Washington Press, 2023)

November 13, 2023

Porcelain for the Emperor

Kai Jun Chen
Listen:

Porcelain for the Emperor: Manufacture and Technology in Qing China (University of Washington Press; 2023) looks at the history of court-sponsored por…

Sagang Sechen, "The Precious Summary: A History of the Mongols from Chinggis Khan to the Qing Dynasty" (Columbia UP, 2023)

May 22, 2023

The Precious Summary

Sagang Sechen. Translated by Johan Elverskog.

Buddhist cosmological history of the universe, history of Chinggis Khan, history of China, and history of the Mongols — The Precious Summary, written …

Peter Thilly, "The Opium Business: A History of Crime and Capitalism in Maritime China" (Stanford UP, 2022)

May 14, 2023

The Opium Business

Peter Thilly

The Opium Business: A History of Crime and Capitalism in Maritime China (Stanford UP, 2022) explores the opium trade — but not through the relatively …

Gordon Barrett, "China’s Cold War Science Diplomacy" (Cambridge UP, 2022)

March 23, 2023

China’s Cold War Science Diplomacy

Gordon Barrett

During the early decades of the Cold War, the People’s Republic of China remained far outside mainstream international science — right? Gordon Barre…

Nathan Vedal, "The Culture of Language in Ming China: Sound, Script, and the Redefinition of Boundaries of Knowledge" (Columbia UP, 2022)

February 21, 2023

The Culture of Language in Ming China

Nathan Vedal

What is the nature of language? This is the question that Nathan Vedal’s book, The Culture of Language in Ming China: Sound, Script, and the Redefinit…

Matthew Galway, "The Emergence of Global Maoism: China's Red Evangelism and the Cambodian Communist Movement, 1949-1979" (Cornell UP, 2022)

January 30, 2023

The Emergence of Global Maoism

Matthew Galway

How do ideas manifest outside of their place of origin, and how do they change once they do? The Emergence of Global Maoism: China’s Red Evangelism an…

Daniel Barish, "Learning to Rule: Court Education and the Remaking of the Qing State, 1861-1912" (Columbia UP, 2022)

December 27, 2022

Learning to Rule

Daniel Barish

The late Qing was a time of great turmoil and upheaval but also a time of great possibility, as scholars, officials, the press, and revolutionaries al…

Alexander Des Forges, "Testing the Literary: Prose and the Aesthetic in Early Modern China" (Harvard UP, 2021)

November 18, 2022

Testing the Literary

Alexander Des Forges

The eight-legged essay (bagu wen) was the one genre of writing that dominated in late imperial China. As the primary mode of expression in which men w…

Emily Mokros, "The Peking Gazette in Late Imperial China: State News and Political Authority" (U Washington Press, 2021)

October 20, 2021

The Peking Gazette in Late Imperial China

Emily Mokros

In the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), China experienced far greater access to political information than suggested by the blunt measures of control and cen…

Zachary M. Howlett, "Meritocracy and Its Discontents: Anxiety and the National College Entrance Exam in China" (Cornell UP, 2021)

August 27, 2021

Meritocracy and Its Discontents

Zachary M. Howlett

Every year millions of high school seniors in China take the gaokao, China’s standardized college entrance exam. Students, parents, and head teachers …

Yurou Zhong, "Chinese Grammatology: Script Revolution and Literary Modernity, 1916-1958" (Columbia UP, 2019)

July 15, 2021

Chinese Grammatology

Yurou Zhong

In 1928 linguist Yuen Ren Chao had reason to celebrate. The Nationalist government had just recognized his system for writing Chinese, Gwoyeu Romatzyh…

Arunabh Ghosh, "Making It Count: Statistics and Statecraft in the Early People's Republic of China" (Princeton UP, 2020)

July 7, 2021

Making It Count

Arunabh Ghosh

The first historical study of the development of statistics in Mao-era China, Making It Count: Statistics and Statecraft in the Early People’s Republi…

Eric Schluessel, "Land of Strangers: The Civilizing Project in Qing Central Asia" (Columbia UP, 2020)

June 4, 2021

Land of Strangers

Eric Schluessel

Eric Schluessel’s Land of Strangers: The Civilizing Project in Qing Central Asia (Columbia UP, 2020) looks at what happened when, at the end of the Qi…

Benno Weiner, "The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier" (Cornell UP, 2020)

January 25, 2021

The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier

Benno Weiner

In The Chinese Revolution on the Tibetan Frontier (Cornell University Press, 2020) Benno Weiner provides an in-depth study of what happened when the C…

Ian M. Miller, "Fir and Empire: The Transformation of Forests in Early Modern China" (U Washington Press, 2020)

January 21, 2021

Fir and Empire

Ian M. Miller

Ian M. Miller’s book Fir and Empire: The Transformation of Forests in Early Modern China (University of Washington Press, 2020) offers a transformatio…

Els van Dongen, "Realistic Revolution: Contesting Chinese History, Culture, and Politics after 1989" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

January 18, 2021

Realistic Revolution

Els van Dongen

What is the role of the intellectual? Is violence, not to mention radical change, necessary? Can there be a revolution without them? Realistic Revolut…

Guojun Wang, "Staging Personhood: Costuming in Early Qing Drama" (Columbia UP, 2020)

January 14, 2021

Staging Personhood

Guojun Wang

Much is known about the Qing sartorial regulations and how the Qing conquerors forced Han Chinese males to adopt Manchu hairstyle and clothing. But wh…

Rachel Silberstein, "A Fashionable Century: Textile Artistry and Commerce in the Late Qing" (U Washington Press, 2020)

January 13, 2021

A Fashionable Century

Rachel Silberstein

Rachel Silberstein’s book A Fashionable Century: Textile Artistry and Commerce in the Late Qing (University of Washington Press, 2020) reveals how Qin…

Anne Gerritsen, "The City of Blue and White: Chinese Porcelain and the Early Modern World" (Cambridge UP, 2020)

November 12, 2020

The City of Blue and White

Anne Gerritsen

We think of blue and white porcelain as the ultimate global commodity: throughout East and Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean including the African coas…